Banking question! I am settling my father's estate and there is a draft for an insurance premium. How can I find out where this is coming from?

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Kaye09 Asked April 2019

Banking question! I am settling my father's estate and there is a draft for an insurance premium. How can I find out where this is coming from?

I am settling my father's estate and there is a draft for an insurance premium. I have no knowledge of this account and no there is no other identifying information on the automatic draft. I called a couple of companies with a similar name and they say it is not the correct company. How can I find out where this is coming from?

Thank you!

Elder Law Estate Planning Financial Planning

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score 0 · Answer 1

Put a stop on payments and they will most likely contact his last known address or listed contact information.
Best wishes!

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score 0 · Answer 2

Yes. 1) his bank statement will show the name and phone# 2) first, notify the bank to put a stop payment immediately, will cost about $25, and not one draft can hit again 3) call the company to cancel draft and policy.

I had a small burial policy on momma and they kept billing me after she died and i had already collected the money to bury her. I was contacted by the company wanting to know why my payment was late.

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Tell them if they don't stop charging on a policy that's already been cashed out and the insuree deceased you'll file a complaint with your state's department of insurance. That'll make them stop immediately. Each state has a department of insurance that handles consumer complaints and they're not shy about cracking down on insurance companies. ;-)

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score 4 · Answer 3

I am Personal Representative of my Mom's Estate and I have kept all of her checking accounts "OPEN" and set up an ESTATE ACCOUNT also. All of Mom's life insurance, health insurance, and long term care insurance policies were automatically withdrawn from one of her checking accounts. (She had three separate checking accounts: one account for daily expenses; one account for the farm that she owned and one account for the farm that she had as "life estate".)

Mom’s Long Term Care Insurance quit withdrawing premiums when they started paying benefits for her stay in the nursing home. The Supplemental RX Insurance stopped withdrawing premiums immediately—I did not have to notify them of her death.

Mom’s life insurance and health insurance companies did withdraw premiums from her personal checking account for a couple of months until they were notified by me that she had died. I had to send a copy of the “Letters of Personal Representative”, a “Certified” copy of the death certificate and complete a form that the insurance company(s) sent to me. Any premiums withdrawn after my Mom’s death have been reimbursed and deposited into her ESTATE Account.

Keep copies of ALL “Notification of Death” forms that you complete and return to a company as proof that you have completed the required paperwork.

Because my Mom had two farms, I will have to keep her Estate “Open” until I receive all of the Federal Farm Program payments for this year and because I sold the 2018 harvest during 2019 which means “the Estate” has to pay income taxes for 2019.

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score 0 · Answer 4

Based on what I have read on the internet:

Some reasons for NOT completing a death certificate are:
an unattended death from natural causes;
the decedent may not have seen the physician for several months;
the physician may have been providing treatment for stable, conditions that posed no apparent immediate threat to the patient’s life (hypertension, diabetes, etc.); or, the physician may simply feel he or she has no exact idea why the patient died.

If you run into this issue with a loved one’s death certificate, you must look up your state’s law on finalizing death certificates. Many states have a 10 day limit on how long a death certificate can go unsigned. Then you have to notify the State Medical Board that a death certificate has NOT been issued.

You need to order 10-12 certified copies of the death certificate with the imprinted seal as insurance companies, credit card companies, some cell phone companies, and any company that your loved one has an account with may request a "Certified" copy.

The funeral home usually contacts the Social Security Administration about the person's death. If your loved one is STILL receiving SS payments, you need to contact the Social Security Administration office closest to you and notify them of your Father's death. They may require a Certified death certificate if the funeral home did not contact them.

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10-12 copies of the death certificate m is a bit much don’t you think? We got 4 for my MIL and still have 2 and we’ve closed out all her accounts & cancelled all utilities and insurance policies. Social security is the only one that wanted to see a certified copy & we just had to bring it in to the local SS office, they didn’t keep it either.

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score 2 · Answer 5

Kaye, I wouldn't close any accounts and create NSF, this could be a life insurance policy and that could get it cancelled. They will return premiums drafted after death.

I would contact the medical examiner and find out how you get a death certificate.

If it is some ignorant doctor not doing the required thing then I would call the media and ask them to help expose this jerk. I would also call him and explain that it has been a month and if you don't have a legal death certificate within 48 hours you will be filing a complaint with the AMA and have the media investigate how many other families have gone through unnecessary hell because he won't do his job.

I am shocked that the funeral home hasn't done it's job of ensuring that a death certificate is created. I would be on their phone line as well, no one wants that kind of publicity, "Local doctor and funeral home causing grief at the hardest stage for families, no death certificate."

Be a squeaky wheel and get a death certificate. Order a dozen, it is easier than getting them from the court house.

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Funeral Home did do its job. The doctor is the one to sign it and either send it to the funeral home or the descendant.

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score 2 · Answer 6

A month and no death certificate? Man, most funeral homes have to have them before they will bury someone. I'd look into that pronto. So odd.

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Doctor is probably to blame for this.

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score 0 · Answer 7

I'm having a new issue- I called the funeral company about the death certificate- the doctors they contacted hanent signed the death certificate! It's been about a month. It's so frustrating because there are so many things to deal with and you can't complete anything without it!

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Has the doctor been paid with nothing owed to him? Did he pass in hospital and doctor paid by Medicare?

This did not happen when my mom passed. In fact the doctor signed the death certificate July 4, after probably hospital notify him that funeral home picked her up July 3. With that out of the way, he could then submit his invoices to be paid.

Money talks, so if your dad's medical bills are Paid in Full, the doctor probably tend to take his time signing since he's not making any money from it.

(1)

score 1 · Answer 8

I was able to get the insurance company information from the bank. The customer service person couldn't tell me what kind of insurance it is (I think it is long term care). They want me to send a death certificate and proof of me being the executor before they will stop withdrawing the premiun!

Helpful Answer (1)

Now is the time to close the account and open a new one. As executor you have every right to do this. Send insurance company information they are requesting via return reciept in the mail ASAP. If you choose to leave the account open, do a stop payment on any future payments but be forewarned, I have seen many of these companies change the amount withdrawn by a few cents so the payment will go thru. Easier on you to open a new one with instructions that nothing from old account is to be debited from the new account. All auto pays on old account will be returned NSF. Make sure any auto credits (deposits) are transferred to new account (bank is able to do this when setting up new account up) Call customer service and ask for a supervisor at the insurance company, you may be able to either scan and email info or fax it to them with the hard copy to follow via snail mail, return reciept. That may do the trick for you, depends on how good their customer service is. Husband and I have a type of long term care insurance that if not used converts into a substantial life insurance policy. May want to see if this is similar, they may owe the estate money.

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score 1 · Answer 9

Went through this recently getting my Mom on Medicaid. 3 drafts coming out to 3 differently named entities yet they were actually under one large group umbrella. Turns out they were for accidental death & disability insurance premiums. The insurance was offered free for one year with the bank account & then had to be cancelled in writing or payments would continue forever. The bank stopped the drafts once they knew Medicaid application was in place. Then they closed the account & put the balance in her SS representative payee acct.

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score 3 · Answer 10

Talk with the bank. They'll tell you what you need to know.

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score 2 · Answer 11

Sometimes the contact information is actually visible on the bank's computer but not the statement. The bank will be able to get the information for you because this transaction should've been processed thru an automated clearing house (ach debit/credit) or via a 3rd party debit card processor. Have bank do a return of funds and stop pay on this account. Your best bet to avoid other future issues is to close this account and open an estate of account with you as signer. Did you contact supplemental medical insurance and perscription insurance and inform of passing? Did they have a long term health insurance policy that was on auto pay? Did you locate any insurance policies at their home or in a safe deposit box? Were they still insuring autos or home that was set up on auto pay? Also freeze their credit so no one can use their ss#.
I'm sorry for your loss and yet the stress continues. Best of luck to you.

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score 2 · Answer 12

The bank should be able to send a payment suspended with an inquiry form to the bank that has the auto debit account.

You need a bank officer to do this & you’ll need your Letters Testamentary naming you Executor to get bank to do. As the Letters gives you legal ability to do this. The form will kinda be like a fraud inquiry form.

If the auto draft is new..... like it hasn’t been there in his bank statement for years, for same amount, same date, I’d be concerned that it’s spanking new fraud. I’ve been Executor x 3 and it’s a whole vast new ripe for the picking world now for after death “bills” & “debts”. Once they die, SSA does a retired SS# list & it’s way waaaay way kinda easy to find out other data once you have the SS#. If it’s fraud, be on the lookout for other stuff to surface. Scammers quite clever.

If its for real & life insurance, you then know who to send your beneficiary payout request to!
if it’s health insurance, that gets cancelled and premiums hopefully refunded. Crappy health insurance co. may have it that you have to notify them in writing within a set timeframe of death to get any premium back paid after death.

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score 4 · Answer 13

The bank will know where the money is going. Ask them. Even if there is not identifying info on the statement, the bank can trace where the funds are headed.

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score 2 · Answer 14

I'm no expert, but, you might check his previous tax returns, records, to see if there is anything on them. Or, call his doctor's office and see if they processed any claims for any company to get their name and contact number. And, you might call your state's Department of Insurance for help identifying who they are. With a death certificate, they should refund any premiums taken out after his death. Plus, you can halt the automatic draft immediately with the bank as the Executor. I'd want to get the refund from the insurance company though. If it's life insurance, there may be a claim to file.

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